October 1st to December 31st – Project Pan Goals:

Happy 1st October! Normally this is the day of the month that I talk about my empties of the previous month, but today is the start of a new project pan. I will be talking about my empties tomorrow, so they will be coming! But for today, I want to outline my goals and expectations for the products I want to use up by the end of 2019.

Products Brought Forward:

Let’s address the products I didn’t use up last time, as I’m bringing this into my project pan as well. There are 3 in total, beginning with the Super Facialist Tea Flower Deep Clean Pore Purifying Clay Mask. This is feels like it has about a quarter of the product left, so realistically I could see myself using it up this time.

On the other hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Quick Fix Facials Mega Moisture Gel Mask manages to last through another project pan. I made very small progress through the tube in the 3 months of my last project pan, so I don’t expect to magically empty this. However, I won’t be upset with this, as it should mean this lasts me through autumn and winter.

One thing to bear in mind, is that I only apply this to my cheek and jaw area, so while the product claims to have 10 facials in the tube, this is probably assuming you’ll use it all over your face. As I use it for about half my face, I’m really making the product last.

The last product I didn’t empty in my last project pan is the Witch Naturally Clear Blemish Gel. This is one that will almost certainly be used up as there’s less than a quarter of the tube left, and it feels like I’m just working through a combination of air being sucked into the tube, and whatever is left of the product inside. So this might be one that surprises me.

Bathroom:

So let’s talk about the products from my bathroom I want to use up. The Head & Shoulders Citrus Shampoo is an accidental non-cruelty-free purchase from when I was living in Bristol that frustrates me to remind myself that I have.

I thought I was picking up a Superdrug own-brand shampoo at the time I bought this, as I was stood in front of their products. The store was quite hectic and the aisles were pretty congested, so I picked this up in a rush to just get what I needed, pay, and leave, and didn’t realise I had picked up a different product. I didn’t realise it wasn’t a Superdrug product until about a month ago when I was checking my bathroom for products to write down to eventually review, so I had no way to return it. I’m not really trying to make excuses for myself, because I made a huge mistake, but those are the circumstances where it happened, and in future I will be even more careful.

So this is one I just want to use up and move on, keeping the lesson with me. I think there’s a little under a quarter of the bottle left. I can’t wait to recycle the packaging and move on.

One of my older non-cruelty-free purchases that I’m working through is the Cure – Natural Aqua Gel. I bought this years ago during the initial excitement and hype about this product. But it spent a long time sat in my Benched Products Box, where I had forgotten about it for years. This sits on the side of my bathtub, where I use it after removing my face masks in the shower to help get rid of any excess mask and dead skin, with the convenience of being in the shower to make sure everything is washed away.

So I want to work through this product, and I’m about halfway through the bottle. I’ve been using this on my face and neck, so I feel fairly confident I’ll use it up. I have a cruelty-free alternative of this style of exfoliator that I can’t wait to try out, so I’m especially motivated to work through this product.

Skincare:

My current toner at the moment is The Body Shop Hydrating Toner, which I haven’t reviewed yet, but have plans for. I’ve made decent progress through the bottle in a fairly short period of time, so I want to include this in my project pan, as I use it twice a day.

A product that initially featured in my Products I’m Passing On – April 2019 post, is one I pulled back into my collection just before my last move. This is the Global Beauty Care Vitamin C Facial Oil, which I wanted to give another chance.

This has been my night time serum/moisturiser for a while now, and when applied with the “a little goes a long way” policy, I find I enjoy using this on my oily skin. I definitely find it’s too much for my skin if I use too much, but if I use it fairly sparingly, my skin does enjoy it.

I’m not really sure how much is in the bottle, but as I’ve been using it for a while, I want to see if I’ll finish it before the end of the year.

A product I adore, is the PURITO Centella Green Level Eye Cream. I’m about halfway through the tube at the moment, so I want to see if I’ll use it up by the end of the year. I have a backup stashed away, but I’m curious to see how long a tube will last me. So this feels like a really good opportunity to monitor that.

This is one of the products in my project pan where I’m eager to see how things turn out, but I won’t be upset either if it doesn’t get used up. I love this eye cream, so the longer I can make a tube the last, the better.

Moving to a desk buddy, I’m curious to see how much progress I’ll make on the Beauty By Earth Organic Lip Balm, which I picked up in a YesStyle order back in April. I’m not really worried about using it up within 3 months, but as I have 4 of these from the set I bought, I want to see how long one of these will last me. As I may have set myself up for lip care for a while.

I keep this little guy in my desk where I can easily grab for it, but it also comes with me in my makeup bag as well. I plan to review this in the future, so keep an eye out for that as well!

Sheet Masks:

One of the things I’ve been struggling to do for years, is work through my existing collection of sheet masks. I’ve stopped buying them for a while now, as they’re not very environmentally friendly, but I still have a backlog of products to use. I really struggle to get myself to sit down and use them, so I decided I wanted to try and use my project pan to motivate me. So I’ve picked out a few to work through, setting myself up for success with a few sheet masks, rather than picking out a dozen that I’ll struggle to keep track of.

Both of these are from the brand Dermactin-TS which I see frequently in TK Maxx, which is where I picked these up from originally. The first is the Lavender Collagen Mask variant.

There’s also the Olive Collagen Mask variant as well, and I plan to write up first impressions of both of these as I work through both sheets of each of them.

I’ve also swapped my sheet mask drawer on my vanity with the drawer where I keep my makeup backups so it’s more visible as well, so hopefully that’ll prompt me to remember they’re there, and in turn, use them.

While on paper, 3 months seems like more than enough time to work through 4 individual sheet masks, I’m approaching this from the perspective of not overwhelming myself with a mountain of sheet masks to work through. I want the process of using sheet masks to remain a calming and enjoyable one, and not one that feels like a chore because I feel self-imposed to use them up.

So I want to see if this helps or not, and evaluate from there.

Makeup:

I only have one makeup product this time around, which is from the de-potted Collection Work The Colour Nude Eye Palette.I hit pan on the shade photographed above back towards the end of August, and I’ve slowly been using it up.

This is my favourite shade from the palette, which I use primarily to highlight my brow bone. On days where I’m not wearing much on the eyes, I typically set the concealer I use to tone down the veins on my eyelids with this shade as well, as it’s close enough to my natural skin tone.

Unlike the taupe shade from the same palette that I worked through in my last project pan, I don’t expect to feel restrained in terms of eyeshadow looks with this specific eyeshadow, as it’s one that doesn’t define the eye look. Before the project starting, I was using it as a reliable brow bone highlight, as it’s a very subtle satin-y matte sheen that I really enjoy.

So I feel fairly confident I’ll make some decent progress on this eyeshadow. I typically use the EcoTools Large Eye Brush from one of the travel sets to pick up and place this generously over my brow bone, so I can see it hitting more pan fairly quickly.

Thoughts:

This concludes all of the products I want to try and use up by the end of 2019. I feel fairly confident going forward, although I don’t expect a 100% success rate here. However, as I mentioned with the eye cream and the lip balm, I’m not really aiming for 100%.

I’m also really eager to see if this will finally help me to use up my sheet mask collection. I want to only buy sheet masks that are formulated to be environmentally friendly, but I still need to use the ones I already have. And I have a hefty collection for someone who forgets to use them. Ideally, I want to free up the drawer I’m keeping them in to only curate environmentally friendly alternatives. So I have a long journey ahead of me in that regard.

Having only one makeup product felt a bit strange, as my makeup collection is feeling quite big at the moment. However, I restrained myself because I enjoy having flexibility to use whatever I’m in the mood for, which I learned from trying to project pan a shade of eyeshadow that was fairly defining for the eye look.

I also didn’t want to let my project pans for the future become largely made up of products I couldn’t finish and being brought forward project after project. Ideally, I don’t want to bring a single product forward more than once, as it otherwise beats the point of adding it to my project. Makeup for me tends to last a longer than skincare, so in my mind, I wait until makeup looks like it’s really close to being finished up, because they can last a lot longer than they appear.

So these are my goals and expectations for the end of the year. Typing out “end of the year” feels really daunting, as 2019 is really racing by, but it’s also quite exciting. I hope you are happy and healthy, and we’ll check in again at the end of the year!